Federal law enforcement officials held a joint press conference earlier this week to announce the arrest of Cesar Sayoc for sending bombs to several prominent Democratic leaders. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray were a part of this press conference and they made it very clear how they felt.

Just hours before the press conference, Trump tweeted suggesting that the bombs were merely a distraction, even saying “bomb” in quotes:

Trump’s conspiratorial tweet is consistent with the sentiment with his top right-wing media allies, who openly said from the onset that the pipe bombs were a “false flag” and an attempt to garner sympathy and votes for the Democratic Party in the midterm elections.

By putting the word “bomb” in quotation marks, Trump is suggesting that this was just a plot to help Dems win in the upcoming elections. When Chris Wray spoke, however, he stressed that these were real bombs and not hoax devices.

Then Jeff Sessions had his turn to speak. He was asked about the motivation for sending the bombs, to which he responded Sayoc “appears to be a partisan.” Sayoc’s van was covered in pro-Trump propaganda and all the bombs were sent to Democrats. It was a bit surprising to most to hear Attorney General Jeff Sessions call it “partisan”.

Donald Trump does not want this story to be what everyone is talking about, let alone what his own people are talking about. It’s just not good for him or Republicans in the middle of midterm elections.